USS Equinox
The USS ''Equinox ''(NCC-72381) was a ''Nova''-class Federation starship in operation in the 24th century. The vessel was constructed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, and was commissioned in early 2370. (stardate 47007.1) It carried an initial crew complement of seventy-eight and was equipped with an Mark I EMH. Under the command of Captain Rudolph Ransom, the Equinox was on a short-range exploratory mission in an unknown system's asteroid belt when it mysteriously disappeared shortly after the vessel's commissioning. It was later discovered that the Equinox was pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the being known as the Caretaker, and its crew experimented on. After leaving the Caretaker's array, Ransom ordered a course set for the Alpha Quadrant. However, because of the low maximum warp capability of the Equinox, the voyage was estimated to take several hundred years. Shortly after getting underway, the Equinox strayed across the borders of the Krowtonan Guard. In the week that followed, half of the Equinox crew were killed, and severe damage was inflicted on the vessel. Despite this, Ransom decided to continue on through Krowtonan space, instead of adding a further six years to the ship's journey. By 2372, the Equinox was in a state of complete disarray. The vessel's warp engines were almost burned out, and essential supplies were at a minimum. It was at this point that the ship made contact with the Ankari, and received their 'blessing', which turned out to be the appearance of a nucleogenic creature. Discovering these creatures had a large antimatter content, the Equinox crew attempted to summon another for study. However, unable to survive in our dimension, the creature died. After several unsuccessful attempts to keep the creatures alive, Ransom ordered the use of the dead creatures for fuel, and the Equinox was able to increase her warp capability significantly. s]] Initially, the use of the creatures was done only as a last resort - in late 2373, the Equinox became trapped in a nova wash, and after days of futile manoeuvering, another creature was summoned to extricate the ship from its entrapment. Eventually, however, the use of the creatures became more and more commonplace. However, the creatures responded to the Equinox crew's experiments by launching an intensive attack on the vessel, damaging it almost beyond repair. With each attack, Captain Ransom would send out a distress call on a Federation frequency - solely as a comfort to his crew, and not expecting a response. In late 2375, Ransom's distress call was picked up by Voyager, who drove away the alien attack, and recovered the surviving Equinox crew, now numbering no more than a dozen. When the alien attacks began to overwhelm Voyager's defences as well, Captain Janeway, under Starfleet regulation 191 (Article 14), made the decision to abandon the Equinox. Their crimes discovered, Equinox fled from Voyager's shield envelope, stealing a field generator that would disable the aliens in the process, and escaping at maximum warp, leaving the ''Intrepid''-class vessel at the mercy of the nucleogenic assault. When its warp drive failed, Equinox sought shelter in the pathogenic atmosphere of a nearby planet, while repairs were made. Voyager was able to track the vessel there and attempted to disable her, but Ransom once again eluded capture, taking Equinox through the atmosphere, where the badly-damaged Voyager could not pursue. Voyager eventually caught up with the Equinox and in the ensuing confrontation, acting first officer, Max Burke seized command of the vessel after Ransom attempted to surrender to Janeway. Ransom was successful in transporting a few of the surviving crew to Voyager, but was unable to save Burke or several other crewmembers on the bridge, who were killed when he dropped shields to force Burke and the others to beam to Voyager. The Equinox succumbed to a warp core breach moments later, as a result of heavy damage inflicted by Voyager and the aliens - Ransom remaining on board to steer the vessel away from Voyager and protect that ship from the explosion. The five surviving Equinox crew were stripped of rank by Captain Janeway, and restricted to minimal privileges aboard Voyager. Appendices Related topics *[[USS Equinox personnel|List of USS Equinox personnel]] Appearances * VOY: ** "Equinox" ** "Equinox, Part II" Background In a documentary included in the DVD release of season 5, Rick Sternbach revealed how the Equinox was designed - "I was searching through piles of drawings for little ships just to get some inspiration and I came across a sketch that I had done for the Deep Space Nine Tech Manual of the original design for the [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|USS Defiant]] before... it was given all of its armor and upgraded weapons, what we call the pathfinder vehicle... and I thought 'well, we haven't seen this one yet, so maybe this design could turn into the Equinox' and the drawing was approved and we fleshed out the Equinox for the two-parter." Equinox de:USS Equinox